Tetra Tech Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.) has been awarded a $32 million, single-award contract by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand the delivery of water, sanitation, and hygiene services in Uganda. Under the five-year contract, Tetra Tech will provide technical services to increase household access to sanitation and water services and improve health through campaigns in homes, schools, and health facilities. To document behavior change, Tetra Tech will collect data using sensors, water usage information, and mobile texting surveys. Tetra Tech will also work with the Ugandan Ministry of Health and Ministry of Water and Environment to support sector policy reforms.

Trump’s infrastructure plan falls at least $1.3 trillion short

The President’s alma mater, University of Pennsylvania (Penn), has blown the whistle on likely funding shortfalls for much needed upgrades to roads, ports, bridges, pipelines, grid and coastal remakes under the Administration’s infrastructure plan. And this is after a record year (>$300 billion) in storm damage. The White House’s updated plan proposes to increase federal spending by $200 billion to stimulate a total of $1.5 trillion in new spending across all levels of government and the private sector. But a budget model produced by Penn’s Wharton School concludes that much of the new federal aid would lead to state and local governments increasing total infrastructure investment by less than the value of the aid itself, yielding little to no impact on the economy. Proposed federal funding of $200 billion will not stimulate a trillion dollars in state and local or private funding—chances are it will draw forth less than the federal funding amount, according to the Wharton analysis. “Many projects do not have a revenue or tolling potential, which is why they remain unfunded. Congress must now wrestle with several different approaches, and Governors face reelection this year—they want the projects,” said Andrew Paterson, EBJ advisory board member and federal analyst.

Arcadis reports annual performance, sees no Brexit impact in UK

Arcadis (Amsterdam, Netherlands) reported full-year net revenues totaling €2,437 million for 2017, representing 1% organic growth over the prior year. Net income improved 11% to €71 million. In the fourth quarter, Arcadis reported 2% growth in net revenue in North America driven by better project delivery in its environmental business, a return to organic growth in water, and growth in infrastructure and buildings. However, business in Latin America saw a 26% decrease. Organic net revenue increased 6% in continental Europe in Q4, and 7% in the UK, making up for a 10% decrease in the Middle East. In the UK, performance reflected rail infrastructure investment, good growth in water following earlier utility wins, and higher revenues in Arcadis’s environmental business driven by strategic environmental consultancy. According to an article in Construction News (CN) in February that cites Chief Executive Peter Oosterveer, Arcadis has been “pleasantly surprised” by strong growth in its UK operations during 2017 and has seen no negative impact from Brexit.

U.S. will become net energy exporter by 2022, EIA predicts

Continued development of U.S. shale, tight oil and gas resources, and modest growth in energy consumption are turning the United States from a net energy importer to a net energy exporter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2018. “The United States has been a net energy importer since 1953, but Energy Outlook projects the United States will become a net energy exporter by 2022. Key findings in the EIA’s reference case include: Increases in energy efficiency will temper growth in energy demand; energy consumption will grow about 0.4%/year on average from 2017 to 2050; and almost all new electricity generation capacity will be fueled by natural gas and renewables after 2022. The report presents projections through 2050 based on several scenarios based on variable oil prices, economic growth, and resources and technology.

Crandall Engineering joins forces with Englobe

Crandall Engineering Ltd. (Moncton, New Brunswick) is merging with Englobe Corp. (Laval, Quebec), a large provider of soils, materials and environmental engineering. Crandall will become a division of Englobe but operate under its own name. The strategic merger will allow Crandall and Englobe to become a major service provider in Atlantic Canada, with five offices and nearly 200 staff in the region. Englobe was founded over 50 years ago and has 1,800 employees in more than 65 locations across Canada and in France and the United-Kingdom. Crandall is an employee-owned company founded in 1952 with a team of 115.

SCS Engineers to provide environmental services to Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians

SCS Engineers (San Diego, Calif.) will provide environmental due diligence services to the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians. Under the contract SCS will conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, as well as lead and asbestos assessments, to protect tribal resources such as soil and groundwater and protect the health and safety of residents. The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians reside on a 6,000-acre reservation in Valley Center, Calif. “We are working in partnership with the Rincon Band to protect and enhance resources for the land they own and oversee,” said Luke Montague, project manager with SCS Engineers. “We will work closely with the tribe’s operations to achieve their goals and to protect their natural resources.”

Applied-Cleveland Holdings Inc. (Cleveland, Okla.), a provider of inspection and integrity management services for energy infrastructure, has acquired Encompass Energy Services LLC and Perennial Environmental Services LLC, both of Houston. Perennial provides environmental consulting and inspection services, primarily for pipeline infrastructure operators across North America; Encompass provides infrastructure surveying, drafting, GIS and right-of-way services. Management teams at Encompass and Perennial will remain in place. “Over the past 13 years, Perennial has been proud to partner with some of the largest oil and gas operators to help solve their most complex environmental permitting challenges. This transaction is an important milestone for Perennial,” said the firm’s co-presidents Dennis Woods and Dave Beckmeyer. Applied-Cleveland is a portfolio company of private equity firm First Reserve.

Stantec becomes a top 10 global design firm in 2017

Stantec (Edmonton, Alberta) closed 2017 with a 19.5% increase in gross revenue to C$5,140.1 million and a 10.3% increase in net revenue to C$3,417.3 million. The firm also announced that it had achieved its long-standing business goal of becoming a top 10 global design firm last year, ranking tenth globally and third in North America. Revenue growth was mainly due to acquisitions completed in 2016 and 2017, which contributed C$760.3 million in gross revenue and C$364.4 million in net revenue. Organic growth in the full year ended December 31, 2017 saw increases of 3.6% and 0.1% in gross and net revenue respectively. Stantec’s Consulting Services totaled C$4,028.7 million in gross revenues in 2017, to which its Water business operating unit contributed 22% and Environmental Services 17%. Organic growth in Stantec’s Canada and Global Consulting Services segments was partly offset by retraction in U.S. Consulting Services, in particular in water and environmental services. Environmental Services were impacted by low commodity prices, reduced capital spending, the winding down of some larger projects, and the effect of decreased rates due to downward pricing pressures in the oil and gas sector, the company said in its annual report. Stantec also announced that it had exceeded the targeted US$25 million in cost and revenue synergies from its MWH acquisition.

TETRA Technologies to acquire SwiftWater for services to oil and gas operators

TETRA Technologies Inc. (The Woodlands, Texas) is to acquire SwiftWater Energy Services LLC (Midland, Texas), a company that provides water management and solutions to oil and gas operators in the Permian Basin. The deal consists of $40 million in cash, 7,772,021 shares of common stock par value $0.01 per share paid by TETRA at closing, and earnout payments up to $15 million. SwiftWater’s adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $16-20 million for the 12 months following completion of the acquisition. “We see excellent synergies with nominal customer overlap between our and SwiftWater’s operations in the Permian Basin, and both companies continue to see strong demand for water management solutions, creating excellent opportunities for cross-selling products and services,” said TETRA’s CEO Stuart M. Brightman.

Firms share HUD award to design flood resilience in Connecticut

WSP, Arcadis, Waggonner & Ball, and Yale Urban Design Workshop (YUDW) have been selected to design resilience measures to minimize flood risk and account for sea level rise affecting businesses and residents in Bridgeport, Conn. The project, one of 13 awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is part of the $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition to help communities recover from and safeguard against disasters. The Connecticut Department of Housing hired the multidisciplinary team. WSP will be responsible for project management, public outreach, civil and geotechnical engineering, and environmental assessments. Arcadis’s responsibilities will include modeling and design of coastal flood structures and drainage, and environmental assessments. Waggonner & Ball, in collaboration with YUDW, will lead architecture and urban design. The design phase will run through this year, with construction activities scheduled to begin in 2019.

GZA GeoEnvironmental acquires dam engineering firm in New Jersey

GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. (Norwood, Mass.), a geotechnical and environmental consulting firm, has acquired Civil Dynamics (Stockholm, N.J.), a regional player in dam engineering. GZA has conducted more than 1,500 dam engineering inspections and projects nationally over the last 30 years and had been seeking to increase its presence in New Jersey. Operating as a division of GZA, CD’s personnel will join GZA’s Fairfield, N.J. office.

Atkins designs flood control solutions in northern Nevada

To reduce potential damage from flooding, Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group (Montreal, Canada), is providing engineering and economic analysis services for the Truckee River Flood Management Project in Nevada. The company was awarded a $3.2 million design contract, which marks the first phase of the project. The overall Truckee River project is estimated at more than $400 million. Historically, flooding of the Truckee River, especially the Vista Narrows portion has caused significant damage to communities and large industrial areas. Atkins’ initial design focus on river terracing, levees and floodwalls for Vista Narrows will help minimize the levee and floodwall heights needed for other portions of the project.

National assessment of drinking water quality released by UCI

While serious violations like those in Flint, Mich. are rare, ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water poses challenges for communities across the country, according to a recent study led by the University of California, Irvine. Researchers found that between 1982 and 2015, 9 million to 45 million people annually were affected by water quality issues, and low-income, rural regions were most vulnerable. “Hot spots” were in Texas, Oklahoma and Idaho. It is the first nationwide assessment of drinking water quality in several decades, UCI said. “We felt that in the aftermath of the Flint lead crisis, there was an urgent need to assess the current state of drinking water in the U.S…. Generally, the country’s utilities deliver high-quality water, but every year about 7 to 8 percent of community systems do not meet health-related standards,” said study author Maura Allaire, UCI assistant professor of urban planning & public policy.

UK Environmental consulting market grows 6% in 2016

The UK’s environmental consulting (EC) market jumped 6.3% to its highest-ever value of £1.65 billion in 2016 and is set for a further increase of 4.5% when figures are finalized for 2017, according to a recently published annual research report by Environment Analyst (EA, Shrewsbury, UK). Strong growth in infrastructure and development support and a sustained recovery elsewhere have helped lift the UK EC market well above its previous pre-recession peak, EA said. This latest assessment also reveals how the recent wave of industry M&A is consolidating and shaking up the rankings of the leading service providers. The top five environmental consulting firms in the UK – RPS, WSP, AECOM, Arcadis and Jacobs – presently lay claim to a combined share in excess of 29% of the UK market total, and this is set to grow further when CH2M’s UK EC revenues are factored into Jacobs’ figures. Strong demand across multiple client sectors has fueled the solid performance, although slowdown is evident on Brexit worries, EA said.

EBJ News is a free bi-weekly service of EBI Inc. to the environmental industry community. It is separate from Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), our flagship subscription publication that provides market intelligence, proprietary data, and strategic information.